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I can’t believe I was sick yesterday. It seems like I hardly get sick, but around Edmonton these days there are some pretty sick people around. My office is filled with them.

I talked with my colleague Daryn, and he’s been sick with bronchitis for 4 weeks now. He says he’s felt this bad only once like this, but for longer, and he thinks at the time he had contracted H1N1. This time he doesn’t know what it is, but he’s only really at 85%. The vast majority of the remainder of my colleges seem to be sick too. It’s going around the office.

I was reading about colds and flu on WebMD. They basically say that a fever is the main, large difference. A cold often doesn’t come with a fever. The Swine Flu (H1N1 strain) is accompanied with vomiting and diarrhea, where as a flu more often doesn’t.

WebMD says that flu and cold virus enter your body through your mouth, nose or eyes. How often do we touch those in the day? To give you an idea in the last 15 mins I’ve touched my watery eye about 35 times. How often do you touch your eyes, nose or mouth with your hands? Think about it…that’s how the virus is transferred.

You should know the difference between the common cold and flu. They are very similar, but the flu will way more often come with a fever, and the complications of flu that can be life threatening. Also, know the difference between mild vs moderate vs severe aches and pains, so that you can better know what you have, and more importantly if you should goto the doctor.

Wash your hands often, cough into a tissue or your elbow, don’t touch your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands. (Oh yeah, and use hand cream to deal with washing so many times in dry ol’Edmonton)

The work colleagues I sit by in my area have been doing a fruit bowl now for about 3 months. I like that there is fruit to eat, and I like that we all share the load. In my own search for significance when it came to my 2nd turn I had to try something new. So, I picked up some coconuts…the young Thai kind.

I’ll follow Michelle Hertz video of how to open a Thai Young Coconut, and I’ll have to show everyone how to do it. I’ve got the Coconuts and the knife ready to go to work in the morning. I’ll bet there are some good opinion that comes from something like this at work.

In other news, the Pope has been slandered from a site saying that he’s declared some new dogma that doesn’t line up with Christian principals. The person that posed the news about the Pope looses credibility day in and day out…read until the very bottom.

Finally, I’m going to try making some of this tonight for tomorrow morning. It’s Chia seeds resting overnight in Almond Milk, and I’ll put honey instead of maple syrup, since we’re fresh out of Maple Syrup.

I picked up a few young coconuts the other day, and I looked up how to open a Thai Young Coconut. I wanted to make some raw coconut pudding, plus use a food processor recently procured over the holidays, although I dislike cleaning it. The recipe I found needed to blend, and a food processor doesn’t really blend, so I kept trying. I was successful in my attempts to blend, even without a high power blender.

I started searching for ways to use raw coconut in a recipe, and there are many recipes out there. I found one that was really easy, and it would allow me to use my food processor. SCORE! I think I stopped on Detoxinista’s website (http://detoxinista.com/2012/08/creamy-coconut-pudding-two-ways/), because of the name of Megan’s site–DETOX-inista. It’s pretty cool to me.

Next, I had to open the young coconut. Many of the videos I watched used a cleaver and hacking method. First, I didn’t have a cleaver. Second, the hacking a coconut seems really unsophisticated (and maybe I slightly consider myself as more than a hacker of food). I found this video by Michelle Hertz. It was knowledgable, and quick to get to the point. So, I used this technique and I opened the Young Coconut.

Following Megan’s recipe (above) I added the correct portions to the Cuisinart Food Processor. The best result I could get was a funky pudding that tasted good, but the consistency was like bad rice pudding. Even my wife had no immediate response, so into the blend it went…ugh. Cleaning another kitchen tool! After blending with a $59 special blender for a few minutes the coconut and water and vanilla and salt were smooth and tasty. Success!

I think the best part of making with raw food is I get to use the food processor or some high-powered device to get the job done. I enjoyed trying, and learning, about the capability of the food processor and our blender. I also enjoyed taking a semi-organic approach (Young Coconut, Raw Honey, and real vanilla). If you’re into raw food cooking, check out Detoxinista’s site. Hopefully Michelle produces a few more YouTube Videos.

The Christmas season is one of my favourite times of the year. It started when I was a youngster, and every Christmas my family got together at my Grandparents place on Christmas Eve and there would be a lot of laughter. The family, fellowship and decorations on a Christmas Tree are very meaningful to me. I especially like when someone bumps the tree and all the decorations swing in unison. It’s beautiful. Recently, I have had thoughts related to our Christmas Tree that made me chuckle. My pals John Fernandes and Daryn Duliba have a perspective that I didn’t think about before.

My family Christmas tree when up around Dec 10, which is near the beginning of the Christmas season. My wife and I decorated the tree, and we use these decorations we’ve collected up over the years–some meaningful, some nice to look at, and some just conveniently acquired. There are a large number of Christmas balls that had came from our wedding just over 2 years ago. There are more silver, teal and frosted balls than you can imagine, but admittedly the look nice on the tree with the lights.

My wife and I also like to have people over to spend time together. The ambiance in the living room is warm, friendly, and welcoming, but when combined with a bit of warmth found in a tea, latte, or apple cider it reminds me of the family fellowship of my youth. This past weekend we had a number of friends over for a New Years’ Party, and we still had the tree up. As they were leaving my wife pops a question to them about the location of a few of the larger ornaments–namely at the bottom of the tree (if you look in the picture you can see them). She asked our friends where the would be better placed if not at the bottom…it turned out to be a bit humorous. They said in the middle of the tree, so I sarcastically placed them higher, but together. Some laughs rang out. I then lifted and separated them about chest level. More LOLs came flying from the friends, at which point I concluded to my wife that these large decorations were places in the exact right spot to look beautiful.

I recounted the story to my friends Daryn and John today. John started poking fun at our house guests who had just finished a meal (at the time) and started making fun of the decorations. I believe John conveniently put it: “So those folks came to your house, ate your free food, and then proceeded to insult your decorations?” He, Daryn and I all laughed at the situational comedy of the statement. As I think about it now, it’s one of those things you’d see in a sitcom.

I really love Christmas, and even as an adult this season is being a great deal of fun and enjoyment to me. I loved the interaction in telling the story at work. John is a bit of a character. Daryn is too. I loved the laughing with my wife and friends at home, and I really love that Christmas tree. I think we should all laugh a bit more. My Twitter friend, Bruce Van Horne, re-tweeted a meme that likely points us out to be more like children than like adults this past. Let’s try and laugh a bit more.

I’m unsure how to focus a blog, and I’m unsure of how to write well. Writing brings me back to the fun days in High School where I disliked English Language Arts. I’m hoping that this will help me write a bit better, focus my thoughts a bit better, and overall bring me to a place that I’ve not explored before.

Oh yeah, I believe Jesus is the hope of the world, so I’ve put my faith in Him, but that doesn’t mean I’m a bigot. I also love my wife, and my dog, Chibi (ちび), which means runt in Japanese.